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Lack of Agreement on Border ‘worrying’ – Cullinane

Sinn Féin TD and spokesperson on Brexit David Cullinane has said
that Michel Barnier’s comments yesterday show the need for continued vigilance
to protect the Good Friday Agreement and to avoid a border on the island of
Ireland.

Deputy Cullinane said:

“Michel Barnier told the House of Commons NI Committee
yesterday that there is no overall agreement on how to avoid a border on the
island of Ireland,

“Last week, the British Brexit Secretary David Davies told
the NI Committee that there were just three areas of alignment, including
agriculture.

“Both comments fly in the face of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's
assurances in December that he had a ‘cast-iron guarantee’ that there will be
no border post-Brexit.

“It is clear now that the December agreement was a
kicking-the-can-down-the-road exercise.

“In the words of the EU commission at the time, it was
simply a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’.

“The danger now is that the issue of the North and the
border will be allowed to slip off the agenda once the economic and trade
interests of the larger EU countries come into play.

“We need to be vigilant end ensure that the
current ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ becomes a legal treaty and that designated
special status for the North is achieved.”